TeliaSonera announced the dismissal of four individuals because of irregularities in transactions and agreements made by TeliaSonera and partners in Eurasia over the past few years. The company had retained the international law firm Norton Rose Fulbright LLP to conduct a review of the deals.
“The Board’s conclusion is that some senior employees no longer have the trust of the Board. Therefore they have been notified that their employment with TeliaSonera will be terminated and they will leave their position effective immediately. It is not the Board’s task to assess the legal aspects, but we have decided to hand over the material from the Norton Rose Fulbright review to the Prosecutor’s office as part of our continuous dialogue,” stated Marie Ehrling, Chairman of the TeliaSonera Board.
Separately, the company announced that Christian Luiga, currently Head of CEO Office, will assume the position as acting Chief Financial Officer, replacing Per-Arne Blomquist who will leave his position effective immediately.
- In February 2013, Lars Nyberg resigned as President and CEO of TeliaSonera following an outside review of Mannheimer Swartling regarding illegal business practices by the firm in Uzbekistan. While the review did not find evidence that TeliaSonera engaged in bribery or participated in money laundering, it did criticize TeliaSonera for not vetting its investment partners in Uzbekistan. At the time, TeliaSonera’s Board of Directors appointed Per-Arne Blomquist as acting President and CEO.
- In October 2012, TeliaSonera’s Board of Directors hired the law firm Mannheimer Swartling to investigate whether TeliaSonera’s investment in a 3G license, frequencies and number blocks in Uzbekistan in 2007 involved corruption or money laundering. Later, the investigation was expanded to include more recent investments in connection with TeliaSonera’s operations in Uzbekistan.
